


It's Better to Forget

by quietuniverse



Category: Supernatural
Genre: F/M, guess who's back back again, old feelings die hard, prolly some fluff too, season 13, there be angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2017-12-15
Packaged: 2019-02-09 12:07:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12887544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quietuniverse/pseuds/quietuniverse
Summary: When Castiel escaped The Empty, none other than Gabriel came tumbling out with him. Apparently years of nothing but slumber and darkness really took a toll on the Archangel, as he finds himself truly struggling to catch back up with a world he thought he left behind and feelings he had long denied.





	1. Chapter 1

An audible intake of breath pierced the stagnant and defeated silence inside of the Impala, rousing you from the precipice of sleep you had been dangling from. You lifted your head from its resting place against the window and shifted to the centre of the backseat, meeting Dean’s eyes in the rear-view mirror.  
  
The anxiety and emotion emanating from Dean was palpable, you could practically hear the stuffy air inside of the car humming with anticipation.  
  
“Dean?”

Sam stared at Dean from the passenger seat as he spoke, his face streaked with concern and curiosity.  
  
“It’s Cas.”  
  
As the words fell from Dean’s mouth, his voice conveyed a crescendo of emotions. You could hear his hands rubbing against the steering wheel as he continuously adjusted his grip, as if holding on tight enough would prevent this moment from slipping between his fingers and becoming just another dream.  
  
\--  
  
As the Impala crawled down the narrow street that Castiel had said he was located on, you felt a charge in the air. The feeling crawled up the back of your neck and seeped deep inside of your bones, taking up so much space that you began to have difficulty breathing.  
  
Sam glanced back at you, face etched in concern, “What’s wr-“

His words were drowned out by the deafening static that roared in your ears as the Impala slowed to a stop in front of a dimly lit pay phone. Your entire body felt numb as your eyes took in what was currently in the path of the Impala’s headlights.

There stood a trench coated angel, and beside him was a memory you had buried so deep it physically hurt to feel it careening forward to the forefront of your mind. The pain would have brought you to your knees, if you even had the strength to open the car door. Instead you remained frozen in the backseat, eyes wide in disbelief.

 **“Gabriel..”**  
  
\--  


You wearily exited the car behind Sam and Dean, your body moving on autopilot. You had spent years letting these emotions drift far out to sea, just for them to come crashing back to shore in a storm you were nowhere near prepared for.

Sam held back, uncertain, while Dean made a beeline for Castiel. You momentarily watched them tightly hug, and then your eyes swept over Gabriel’s form. You knew, without a doubt, that this was him. This was not an illusion like Metatron’s awful scheme years ago (you still felt the echoing stab of pain from the split-second hope Castiel had given you). Gabriel was here, alive and present. There was no mistaking the thrumming feeling in your chest, something that you had always felt when he was around.

_“Alright Gabriel, I need you to be straight with me here. Every damn time you’re around, I get this weird feeling like there’s static electricity bouncing around inside of my chest. Is this your idea of a fun prank?”_

_Gabriel stared at the back of your head, as he had just appeared behind you in your shoddy, run down motel room where you were currently hunched over a book at the kitchen table. He sucked in a silent breath and ran a hand over his face before plastering on his trademark grin and sitting down in the chair across from you. He casually drawled,_   _“Sweetheart, you know there’s a more eloquent way of finally admitting that you have a crush on me.”_

 _You frowned and tossed a balled-up napkin at him,_ _“Get real, featherbrain. Spill it, is this some weird archangel thing? Because I definitely don’t feel it when Cas is around.”_  
  
_Gabriel raised his eyebrows and considered you for a moment before responding,_ _“You could say that. It’s not the first time I’ve heard of it happening. Just think of it this way, your body is most likely a bit more in tune with supernatural stuff and this is its way of alerting you when something is near. Something…handsome, almighty, and powerful.”_  
  
_He smirked at you while you rolled your eyes and shook your head, accepting that you weren’t going to squeeze much more out of him other than this cryptic answer (he tended to be cryptic about a lot of things, claiming his worldly knowledge would make your brain ooze out of your head if he truthfully answered every question you asked him)._

_Gabriel honestly knew the real answer to your question, but that was knowledge he didn’t plan on sharing with you anytime soon. Or ever, really._

You slowly approached him, arms hanging limply at your sides. Your tongue felt like it was too large for your mouth as your brain fumbled for words. The right words, the proper words, any words at all.

“You’re alive.”  
  
Apparently years and years of imagining this moment hadn’t quite prepared you with anything more creative than that.

“You changed your hair.”  
  
He gave you a small smile as he spoke, although it didn’t quite reach his eyes. Something seemed different about him but you couldn’t quite put your finger on it.

\--

Gabriel sat in the middle of the backseat on the drive back to the bunker and you were hyperaware of every time his leg slightly jostled yours when Dean hit a bump in the road. It took all your willpower to avoid looking at him as your eyes rested on Cas while he recounted their journey.

Castiel explained the Empty, the dark and lifeless place he had woken up in. Apparently his bickering with the Cosmic Entity had also somehow woken up Gabriel as well. The Entity, already ten shades of annoyed with Castiel alone, nearly lost his mind when Gabriel joined in on the conversation. With a dramatic sigh he had claimed that the two of them would very well annoy him to an otherwise impossible death and proceeded to unceremoniously fling them back to the land of the living.

Neither of heaven’s dropouts were restored to full power upon their return to Earth, hence the hitchhiking. Gabriel seemed particularly put out that he was stuck traveling by car. He never did stay in one place for long, that was something you knew all too well.

Sam and Dean spent the rest of the drive filling Cas in on what he had missed since his latest non-permanent death (his adoptive child, Dean’s mega bitchiness, so on and so forth) and filling Gabriel in on...well...a chaotic summary of the past seven years.  You remained quiet until Gabriel turned to you and spoke, “So are you sticking around with this crew tonight?”  
  
You smirked slightly and said, “Shocking turn of events...I actually live with Sam and Dean now.”  
  
_You had met Sam and Dean many years ago, nearly taking off their heads when they burst in on a vampire case that you had been investigating alone. You were an independent hunter at the time and you mostly kept to yourself. After that, though, you somehow ended up running into them on a semi-frequent basis when they weren’t tangled up in their apocalyptic soap opera._

_As the years passed, there were times where you would travel and hunt with them for a week or so at a time before going off on your own again. They assured you that you could tag along for as long as you liked, but you felt that they had enough on their plates without adding worrying about you into the mix. Despite the fact that you insisted you could take care of yourself, they had begun treating you like their unofficial little sister._

_Once they acquired the bunker, they urged you to quit motel hopping and take one of the spare rooms. You put it off for as long as you could, until you woke up one night in your latest choice of dusty, musty lodging to find a very large cockroach crawling up the sheets toward your face. It wasn’t really the gross bug that did you in, you had seen much worse, but rather the realization that you were being downright ridiculous and stubborn. You hopped in your car that same night and arrived in Lebanon, Kansas just as the sun was peeking over the horizon._

“Hm. Never would have guessed that you’d ever settle down, little miss wanderer.”  
  
You smiled and rolled your eyes at Gabriel’s response, “I thought you’d be glad that someone’s been keeping tabs on me to make sure I don’t go and get myself killed.”  
  
_You had met Gabriel shortly after his alternative reality TV show stunt that he pulled on Sam and Dean, once it was revealed that he was an archangel. Despite the brothers’ overall lack of fondness toward him, there was just something about his company that you enjoyed. Dean would usually roll his eyes and claim that you liked him because he flirted with you instead of turning your guns into confetti poppers in the middle of a hunt._

_It was true, Gabriel did subject you to far less pranking than the Winchester duo. However, you would hardly call his flirting anything special. He WAS Gabriel after all, and flirting was like breathing for him. Which is why you didn’t think much of it, and generally brushed him off with a roll of your eyes and a whack to the side of the head with the nearest non-lethal object._

_He wasn’t all tricks though, as there had been a few hunts where Gabriel did actually pop in and help the three of you when someone was on the verge of losing an arm. He even began to check in on just you when you were off on your own, at which point you accused Dean of bribing him to keep an eye on you when they couldn’t (worried-surrogate-big-brother-syndrome)._

_Gabriel had scoffed at that accusation, claiming he checked in on you because he wanted to and that Dean had nothing to do with it. He believed you were more than capable of taking care of yourself, but sometimes you were too prideful to ask for help when you needed it. He also stated that someone needed to make sure you were alive when you were gone for weeks at a time._

_“What about a simple phone call, Gabe?”_  
  
_“But then I can’t see your adorable, grumpy frown when I inevitably say something to piss you off, sugar.”_  
  
Gabriel looked like he was about to say something, but he seemed to change his mind as the Impala slowed to a crawl in front of the bunker.

Once inside, the boys all crowded around Jack for introductions as you wearily slung your duffel bag over your shoulder and headed to your room, too physically and mentally exhausted to participate in any further conversation. You also needed to put some space between you and a certain whiskey-eyed angel for the sake of your sanity, because you were still trying to process the fact that he was living and breathing again.

When you heard a soft knock at your door a short while later, you contemplated ignoring it. Gabriel’s uncertain voice on the other side of the door convinced you to drag yourself out of bed, though.

“Hey, toots?”  
  
You opened the door to find him standing there with an odd expression on his face, hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans. His presence felt smaller, deflated almost.

“Mind if I come in?”  
  
You considered him for a moment before shrugging, “I guess, go ahead. But I can’t promise you’re going to get much conversation out of me before I fall asleep.”  
  
Normally, Gabriel would have smoothly responded with some flirtatious remark. However, he simply nodded as he followed you into the room and shut the door behind him. He slowly walked around the small space, eyes scanning over your meagre belongings (you never kept too many things, as you were stuck in the mentality of traveling light while living on the road).

“Not a fan of decorating, huh?"  
  
You scoffed in response, “Sorry, Gabe. Too busy trying to save the world over here.”  
  
You curiously glanced over at him as your words were met with silence, only to find that he stood frozen in front of your nightstand. His hands were shaking as they hovered over the small wooden box that sat beside the lamp.

“Gabr-”  
  
Your words died on your lips as he carefully opened the box, revealing a single, golden feather resting atop a small pile of photographs and other nostalgic mementos. Gabriel’s voice trembled as he spoke,  
  
“Where did you get this?”

_The night that Gabriel died, he had sought you out first before heading to the hotel. You were off on one of your solo adventures, sitting atop the hood of your car and looking out over the skyline of the city in the distance, when you turned to see him lounging beside you after hearing the familiar flutter of his wings. Outside of the peculiar buzzing in your chest that went off whenever he showed up, you were also able to clearly discern the sound of his wings from those of other angels (yet another question of yours that he swiftly dodged time and time again)._

_You had glanced over him and smiled, as you had grown accustomed to his unannounced visits._ _“What’s up, playboy?”_  
  
_In truth, Gabriel had come to see you because he had a funny feeling in the pit of his chest. It wasn’t the funny feeling he got when you were on the verge of being devoured by a wendigo, but more so just a nagging sense of dread. He was headed to the Elysian Fields Hotel to crash a godly sleepover that he certainly hadn’t been invited to. Despite being an archangel, he wasn’t exactly privy to the fact that he wasn’t going to live to see the next morning. Yet something inside of him told him it would be wise to drop in and see you before whatever events transpired later that evening._

 _He played it cool and treated it as just another visit, though you had noticed he was substantially less flirty and cocky than usual. It didn’t take you long to catch on to the fact that something was up.  
  
_ _“Come on Gabriel, what’s going on? You seem a little off tonight."_  
  
_The world around you seemed to stop as he turned to you, looking into your eyes as he took your hands in his. There was an uncharacteristically serious expression on his face. You were frozen, unable to move or say anything. This wasn’t how things between the two of you worked. Gabriel flirted, you brushed him off and went about your day. That was how things always were. This was new territory and you were utterly and completely lost._

 _The moment short-lived as he let go of your hands and gave you a lopsided smile,_ _“Just got a lot on my mind. I’ve got some business to deal with so I might not be back to check on you for a little while, okay? Be safe, kid. And for Dad’s sake, can you try sticking around the Winchesters more often? I might not always be around to swoop in at the last second, ya know.”_  
  
_He had reached out and softly placed a hand on the side of your face, his eyes crinkling as he smiled at you one last time. Then, he was gone._

_You fruitlessly chased sleep that night as you curled up in the backseat of your car, a nagging feeling in the back of your mind keeping you awake. Something wasn’t right._

_Shortly after you finally fell asleep as dawn was creeping across the city skyline below, you were awoken by a phone call from Sam. A call that left you shaken to your core. A call that prompted you to dive into the front seat of the car and lay on the gas pedal until you came peeling into Muncie, Indiana. The brothers had insisted on coming to find you, as they were well aware the news would hurt you, but you had angrily told them to leave you be. You had demanded the location of the hotel, which they only gave to you because they had already checked to make sure the place was rundown and deserted once more before ‘skipping town’._  
  
_When you arrived, you really weren’t surprised to find the Impala parked in front of the building. Of course they wouldn’t leave you alone, which was probably smart- in retrospect. Neither of them moved to exit the car as you slowly walked through the remains of the hotel, though, which you were thankful for._

_As desperately as you wanted it to be just another elaborate sham put on by your favourite archangel, you were forced to accept that it wasn’t as you fell to your knees in front of the enormous shadow of Gabriel’s wings, burnt into the floor in front of you. Your entire body felt like lead as you gently traced the outline of his feathers on the floor. You froze when your hand brushed against something soft among the otherwise charred surface, something that sent a powerful shockwave through your body when you touched it. Your insides buzzed with a familiar tingling feeling as you carefully held up the golden feather and held it to your heart with shaking hands. You then collapsed to the ground and curled up in a ball, tears flowing freely as you began to sob uncontrollably._


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, thank you SO much to everyone that took the time to leave comments and kudos! Now I have a few important notes.
> 
> \- I rearranged the chapters so that the chapter count matches the Tumblr posting for this story, as the first chapter was originally split into two parts here. Comments that were left on the original second chapter disappeared before I got the chance to thank everyone individually :( I promise I read them all, though!  
> \- For the sake of this story, suspend your disbelief and pretend that there was an ample amount of time between Changing Channels and Hammer of the Gods (like, enough time to develop a very close and meaningful friendship, ya know.)  
> \- I’m diverging from the current plot of S13 as of now. 
> 
> And that's all. Enjoy!

“Where did you get this?”  
  
You chose your next words carefully as your confidence wavered under the immense weight of Gabriel’s questioning stare. You replied, “You left behind a little souvenir at Elysian Fields before you skipped out on Earth for your extended nap.”  
  
Gabriel furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, “But...you weren’t even in Indiana that night..”  
  
You shrugged in an attempt to appear as nonchalant as possible whilst the lie tumbled from your lips, “Had to make sure it wasn’t another one of your pranks.”

He knew you weren’t being entirely honest with him. Despite the years lost, he could still see right through you. Gabriel narrowed his eyes as he said, “So….you found this there?”  
  
You nervously bit your lip as you responded, “Yep. Do you...want it back?”  
  
He hesitated for a moment before answering your question, as if searching for the most appropriate answer. He cleared his throat, “If an angel’s feather becomes visible on this plane of existence and presents itself to a human, said human is meant to keep it. No ifs, ands, or buts, sugar.”  
  
You were a bit taken aback by his honesty, as you had grown far too accustomed to the archangel’s trademark vague answers. You considered questioning him further, but you decided not to push your luck. Instead, you smirked at him slightly and said, “Well I sure hope it wasn’t supposed to be a good luck charm, because everything really went to shit after you left.”  
  
Gabriel’s face softened and his lips tipped downward in a frown as he said, “Hey...I’m sorry. Look, we should really tal-”  
  
“Not tonight, Gabriel,” you cut him off abruptly, “My mind is still trying to process the sheer fact that you’re back from the dead. One thing at a time.”  
  
He sighed and nodded in understanding as he began to head toward the door. When he reached your side, he stopped and hesitantly placed a hand on your shoulder as he looked into your eyes. You offered him a small smile as you gently placed your hand over top of his and said, “Goodnight, Gabriel.”  
  
\--  
  
You were shaken awake the following morning by a gruff voice accompanied by a pair of green eyes, “Hey sleeping beauty, you alive?”

You peered up at Dean through your burrito of blankets and pillows and mumbled, “Too early. Go away.”

Dean laughed as he straightened and turned to leave, “Mmmmm okay. Me and the boys are heading out on a case, minus the powered down archangel. We were thinking maybe you could hang back and keep an eye on him. Cas said Gabriel’s extended layover in the Empty really took a toll on him and his abilities, and he doesn’t think he should be left alone. We’ll probably be gone for a few days...so don’t let that dick with wings drink all of my beer.”

You stuck your tongue out at Dean for his last comment. Normally, you would have argued relentlessly about having to stay behind on a case. You agreed that Gabriel would need the company, though, and you knew that Castiel needed to focus on Jack.

You replied, “Yeah yeah yeah...well...be safe. Don’t forget the salt.”

Dean rolled his eyes and grinned as he exited your room. You then proceeded to burrow deeper into your cocoon of blankets and closed your eyes as you mulled over the fact that you would be alone in the bunker with Gabriel for Chuck knows how long. You weren’t too sure how you felt about that.

You were thrilled that he was alive, but you were far less happy about the buried emotions that crawled back to life with his return. You internally cringed at how you were beginning to sound like a scorned, heartbroken lover. It wasn’t as if the two of you had been romantically involved. He had been one of your closest friends and nothing more. Sure, there were times when you had stopped to question your sanity as your heart suddenly began to beat faster around him. Yet in those moments, you had harshly reminded yourself that this was the same archangel that regularly conjured supermodel dates with a snap of his fingers. It would never happen.  
  
Gabriel had been your friend and one of the very few figures in your life that had your complete and total trust. Despite his tendency to nag the Winchesters incessantly, he really wasn’t that bad. You smiled to yourself as you recalled one of his finer moments.

_You traced a finger around the rim of your glass of water, watching the ice cubes slowly drift into one another. Dean’s deep laugh rang out across the bar as he and Sam swindled the latest idiots of the night in a game of pool. Normally, you would have been more than happy to join in on the fun. This time around, though, you were hardly in the mood. It had been a rough hunt and you were still beating yourself up over it despite the brothers’ protests that there was nothing more that you could have done._

_“Whatcha drinkin’ there, darling?”_

_The unfamiliar voice beside you shook you out of your thoughts. You glanced over to see a man, slightly older than you, leaning against the counter and grinning. You wrinkled your nose at the smell of his musty cologne as you flatly answered, “Water.”_  
_  
The man scoffed and said, “Baby, you look like you could use something a little stronger than that.”_

_Your face remained unimpressed as you simply replied, “Nope.” You popped the ‘p’, not bothering to hide your annoyance._

_The man smirked and took a step closer to you as he said, “Hard to get, huh? I’ve got all night, sweetheart.”_  
_  
Your hand tightened around your glass as you forced yourself to breathe through your mouth, having caught scent of the man’s equally offensive breath. You really didn’t feel like punching this guy in the face, your hands were already bruised from tonight’s hunting debacle._

_Bad-breath Longbeard shrugged at your lack of a response and said, “Well, let’s get you something a bit more fun to loosen those lips a bit.” He lifted his hand in the air to get the bartender’s attention, only to yelp in pain as a hand shot out from behind him and tightly gripped his wrist. You could have sworn you heard the telltale sound of cracking bones._

_“Mmm wouldn’t do that if I were you, pal.”_  
  
_You weren’t exactly surprised to find Gabriel standing behind the man, but you were startled by the deep timbre of his voice. There was a dangerous edge to it that made the hair on the back of your neck stand up. The man had spun around to size up his competition, wringing his hands as he prepared for a fight. His attempts were stopped short, though, as he found his arms were trapped at his sides by an invisible force. He opened his mouth to protest but no sound came out._  
_  
Dark, unstable energy poured off of the archangel in waves, causing you to shiver as it ghosted over you. Gabriel’s voice was eerily calm as he spoke once more, “Leave. Now.”_

 _The man barely gave you a final glance as he quickly turned to depart, innately aware that he really had no other choice. As the door to the bar slammed shut behind him, you slowly turned back to Gabriel. He cheerily smiled at you; all traces of anger and darkness had vanished. You squinted at him suspiciously and said, “What the hell was that?”_  
  
_He shrugged, “Just figured you could use a little assistance.”_  
_  
You sighed and responded, “Gabe...I appreciate it, I really do. But you know I can take care of myself. I’ve dealt with worse.”_

 _He crossed his arms and glared as he retorted, “Well YOU couldn’t hear the disgusting thoughts that he was having about you. He wasn’t going to take no for an answer, believe me.”_  
  
_You opened your mouth to speak, but he quickly cut you off, “And listen. This is about to be some major oversharing, but any and all intense emotions that you feel have a direct hotline to me. I know you usually block me out, but the most powerful ones always make it through. And don’t ask why because I have no idea. When you’re scared for your life? I feel it. Pissed enough to rip a guy a new asshole? I feel it. Before you ream me out, no I don’t listen to the actual transcript of your thoughts. I’m fully aware that you would literally filet me with my own blade if I did. Just think of me as your angelic life insurance. And now I can already see the gears in that pretty little head of yours spinning a mile a minute so I’m going to shut up now.”_  
  
_You were slightly mortified at the thought of Gabriel hearing your most intense feelings on a regular basis and equally thrown off by the sincerity in his voice.  When he finished speaking he seemed to brace himself for you to inevitably admonish him, but you simply smiled at him and pulled him in in for a tight hug instead. His eyes widened, clearly surprised by the affectionate gesture._  
  
_He hadn’t quite told you the whole truth, but it was enough._

When Gabriel died, it felt like you had lost a piece of yourself, too. In the span of your time spent with Gabriel, you had developed a profound bond with him. Sam and Dean were like brothers to you, but with Gabriel it was different. You never quite understood how you came to be best friends with an archangel, but it made more sense than most of the insanity you dealt with on a daily basis.

Your stable friendship (and your fear of losing that) was the main reason that you blatantly ignored the occasionally charged moments the two of your shared. Not to mention the fact that you were worlds away from his typical conquests. Plus, Gabriel gave out flirtatious winks and suggestive nudges like it was his job.

You were startled from your musings as you heard a loud crash from the kitchen. You swiftly rolled out of bed, crept through the hallway, and dove into the room in question with your gun pointed forward and ready to shoot. You slowly lowered it as you surveyed the scene in front of you, though.

Gabriel stood in the middle of the kitchen, covered from head to toe in pancake batter. He looked at you, frowning, as it slowly dripped off of him and onto the floor. One hand flew to your mouth to stifle a giggle.  
  
“What...happened…?” you spoke in between muffled laughs.

“What do you think?” he grunted, as he unsuccessfully tried to wipe the mess from his face with his batter-covered hands.

“Wouldn’t it have just been easier to snap your fingers and make them appear?” you asked.  
  
Gabriel frowned and said, “Not quite recharged enough to pull rabbits out of my hat again, yet. But I figured, I’m as old as dirt so how hard could it be to make pancakes by hand....”

“I see that worked out well for you” you quipped, which earned you a withering glare.

You sauntered up to him and stuck a hand out, scooping a small glob of batter off of the tip of his nose with your pointer finger. He stared at you, mouth slightly agape, as you suggestively placed the finger in your mouth and swallowed the batter. Your face crumpled in disgust moments later, though, as you exclaimed, “Gabriel...what...WHY is there sour cream in this?!”

He shrugged, “The recipe sounded so boring. I figured I could spice it up a little bit.”

You audibly gagged as you trudged over to the fridge for a bottle of water to wash down the awful taste. Once you were finished recovering from the assault on your taste buds, you drug Gabriel to the bathroom with the promise that he would be learning how to clean the floors later.

He waggled his eyebrows at you flirtatiously and said, “I did moonlight as a janitor, ya know. I’m great with a mop. Some would say I’m a master at pushing the wood.”

You rolled your eyes as you unceremoniously shoved him into the tiled room, toward the shower. You dug around in the cabinet for a few moments before turning around to hand him a clean washcloth and a new bar of soup.  
  
He glanced down at the items and then back up at you with playful grin as he said, “Sugar, I have no idea how to use th-”

“Nope. Not happening. Good luck. Red knob means hot, don’t go burning your fabulous wings off,” you smoothly cut him off as you backed out of the room and quickly shut the door before you could inspect his now-bare chest too closely. You leaned against the wall in the hallway for a moment, waiting for your heartbeat to slow down.

A slightly muffled singsong voice drifted out from the bathroom, “You sure you don’t want to help me wash my back?”

You gave the closed door the finger as you stalked away, headed toward the library.

\--

Gabriel stealthily crept up behind you as you sat at one of the tables in the library, eyes glued to your laptop.

“You can’t sneak up on me, Gabriel,” you chided. The buzzing, electric feeling in your veins that only grew stronger as he came closer gave him away, as always.  
  
He slumped down into the chair beside you with a defeated ‘hmmmph’, leaning closer to examine the news article that you were currently reading. There had been a series of unexplained deaths at a bed and breakfast a couple of towns over that you were hoping to go investigate. You needed something to help get your mind off of the flood of emotions coursing through you, even if the source of said feelings would have to tag along with you.

“Sooo we’re going hunting?” Gabriel asked.

You turned to him and said, “Well, I was only going to go check out the case if you’re interested in joining me. It sounds like a typical salt and burn, so we should be in and out in less than a day.”

Gabriel crossed his arms as he replied, “I know you’re doing this because the Windorks and Cassie think I need a babysitter, but I’ll just pretend it’s because you’re so thrilled that I’m back that you don’t want to leave my side.”

You rolled your eyes and gently placed your hand over top of his as you spoke, “Gabe, I’m beyond happy to have you back. But we both know that it’s not safe for you to be on your own when you’re powered down like this. Heaven, hell, and everything in between are still as dangerous and messy as ever.

He could feel the sincerity of your words and the depth of your emotions seeping into his vessel at the place where your hands were touching. When you realized what was happening, you awkwardly coughed and removed your hand. Gabriel visibly stiffened as the moment dissipated, but you failed to notice as you were pointedly staring off in another direction.

You broke the awkward silence a few moments later and said, “Alright well...we’re leaving in ten.”

\--

You arrived at the quaint little bed and breakfast just over an hour later. When you reached the porch, the front door opened before you even had the chance to knock. An eager looking older man was standing in the doorway, eyes crinkling as he appraised you and Gabriel. He stepped aside and exclaimed, “Oh, how wonderful! We haven’t had any guests in weeks. Come in, come in!”

The two of you followed him inside and you kindly asked the man, “No guests for weeks? Why’s that?"

He sighed, clasping his hands together, “There were a couple of unfortunate accidents that occurred last month, and now people have been afraid to come stay with us because they think the building is haunted. I’ve been living here for the past 45 years though and I can promise you that it is most certainly not haunted.”

Gabriel shot you a mischievous look before replying, “Well, we’ve been traveling for days on end and we’re very exhausted. So ghosts or not, we’d love to stay the night to get some rest.”

The older man chuckled and said, “Let’s get you two checked in, then.”  
  
The two of you followed him to the front desk, where he began paging through a binder of what you presumed was their antiquated booking log. He glanced back up and said, “Now, the two of you are married of course, correct?”

You glanced at Gabriel, a slightly panicked look on your face. The man didn’t seem to notice, though, as he continued, “I understand that perhaps it’s not entirely conventional in this day and age, but my wife and I are very old-school when it comes to the way we run our business here. We have blessed this home with our belief in love, marriage, and virtue, and for that reason we just cannot allow unmarried couples to stay under this roof. So if you aren’t married, I can certainly point you to another fine establishment nearby.”

You were startled to suddenly find Gabriel standing directly behind you, entwining the fingers of your left hand with his and resting them together on the counter in front of you. On a normal day you would have been hyperfocused on the fact that the archangel’s chest was flush with your back, but you were currently too busy staring slack-jawed at the golden wedding bands on his and your ring fingers. Angel mojo be damned, he had somehow managed to tap into his powers after all. His breath tickled your ear as he leaned his chin on your shoulder and said to the man, “Well then, I guess we’re in luck!”


End file.
